BETTER THAN WHEELS

"Better Than Wheels" ponders potential wheelchair alternatives on the horizon and beyond.
These ponderances are not limited to alternative devices that could replace wheelchairs,
but may also include selected topics relevant to curative objectives.

Wheelchair Alternatives - The Future

hile
Eugene Roddenberry's Star Trek series may have suggested that
the successors of today's wheelchairs would be high-tech chairs with wheels,
a survey of present-day technologies suggests additional possibilities.

For example, Japan's KIDStudio produced what it called an indoor
Hoverchair
for handicapped children.
While the mobility gained by using this type of hoverchair
is quite restricted with respect to terrain,
relevant concepts found in devices like jetbelts and
the M200G
could one day be used to make a remarkably mobile hoverchair.

It is entirely conceivable that a future mobility solution could allow
some otherwise wheelchair-bound persons to
abandon the chair completely.
In this case, the potential wheelchair alternative is not something that
one sits in but something that one wears - an exoskeleton.
Developments like
Kanagawa Institute of Technology's Wearable Power Assist Suit,
Cyberdyne's HAL,
and Berkeley Robotics Laboratory's BLEEX
have already demonstrated that a powered exoskeleton is a feasible,
future possibility for some otherwise wheelchair-bound people.

Indeed, traditional wheelchair designs are already
being experimentally challenged by non-wheeled alternatives today.
WheelchairX anticipates a more mobile future
for those who would otherwise require a wheelchair.